Mukwano was kind, gentle and extraordinarily gifted

What you need to know:

Pray for his children. So now he has gone “the way of all earth”. We pray for all the people who loved him, those he has left behind, especially his children and grandchildren, that they would be strong and courageous despite his sad and sudden departure. I have no doubt that the God who strengthened him and prospered him all these years will also strengthen and prosper his children, his relatives, his friends and his workers.

What a man! The most complex mix of love, generosity, humility, simplicity, vision and tenacity I ever saw. As Shakespeare would say, all these elements were so well mixed in him that nature itself might rise up and say: “This was a man.”

I first met him in 1987 at the Bank of Uganda. There were no dollars, no pounds, no yen, and no foreign exchange of any kind in the country. Not even money to import petrol. Mukwano had a small soap factory in Kampala, but few if any raw materials to make soap. He wanted to be allocated foreign exchange so that he could import tallow and other raw materials necessary to make soap so that Ugandans could buy soap.
I soon came to learn that his name, Mukwano, was a true description of his life. He gave and gave and gave and gave. He sacrificed what he had so others would have and be better. And true enough. He lived to prove for all the world to see that love is powerful. His love conquered all, small and great alike. He built an empire on friendship and love. May God help us all to learn that there is power in love. That it is truly more blessed to give than to receive.
After we removed three zeroes from the Uganda Shilling in May 1987, and therefore, met the conditions for foreign aid, we received a balance of payments loan of $100 million from the World Bank. The World Bank gave us a condition to establish an Open General License system to allocate foreign exchange to a few selected commodities, which the country needed most. The raw materials for soap were on the OGL list and as the Director of Research in the Central Bank at that time, I was asked to manage the OGL system and that is how I came to know Mukwano. We allocated him the foreign exchange he wanted. He bought it, he brought the raw materials and he made soap. Soon the whole of Uganda had soap – Mukwano soap.
In my book, Advancing the Ugandan Economy-A Personal Account (published by The Brookings Institution, Washington DC. 2014, page 41), I have described how Mukwano successfully increased production in contrast to many other enterprises that failed to utilise the foreign exchange that was allocated to them.
His simplicity, his vision and determination set him apart from most of men. He knew where he was going. He had a vision and a direction. You could, of course, not tell by merely looking at him. He was so simple, so humble and unassuming. Yet, every once in a while, in a one-on-one conversation, he might casually mention his ambition to grow tea, to make edible oil, to export to Congo and yes! To become the biggest industrialist that Uganda had ever seen. I thought he was just talking. I was wrong.
In time as his works became visible everywhere, I came to realise that no idle word came out of his mouth. He meant every word he said. And he did what he said he would do. What an extraordinary man this was. We so often talk so much and accomplish so little. He said so little and accomplished so much. May we learn from him to plan, to be visionary and to be ruthlessly committed to what we believe. To do what we say we shall do and not merely to talk and then do nothing. In all the dealings
I had with him, his word was his bond. Without exception, he always did what he said he would do.
He once confided to me that he would be awake deep into the early hours of the morning when most people would be sleeping. I asked why? He said he would be thinking and planning. Let us not for one moment think that he succeeded without working or planning. I believe he worked extraordinarily hard just as he loved and believed extraordinarily hard.
So now he has gone “the way of all earth”. We pray for all the people who loved him, those he has left behind, especially his children and grandchildren, that they would be strong and courageous despite his sad and sudden departure. I have no doubt that the God who strengthened him and prospered him all these years will also strengthen and prosper his children, his relatives, his friends and his workers.
Mukwano was kind. He was gentle and extraordinarily gifted. May those wonderful attributes now be upon those who cared for him and loved him while he lived.
Thank you very much Mukwano for all your contribution to the world. May your soul rest in eternal peace.